Read Online Steven Tyler: The Biography by Laura Jackson - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Laura Jackson
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had begun, once again at Record Plant Studios in New York with producer Jack Douglas. Joe Perry had stumbled upon a stimulating riff while messing around during a sound check, but coming up with lyrics proved annoyingly elusive. With nerves fraught and fatigue setting in, Douglas suggested the band took a break, so they quit Record Plant late one night to get some fresh air. Passing the prostitutes plying their trade alongside the drug dealers in shady Times Square, the band wandered into a cinema showing the Mel Brooks-directed comedy Young Frankenstein starring Gene Wilder, Gene Hackman and Marty Feldman, famous for his startlingly bulging eyes. Feldman’s character in the movie would croak ‘Walk this way’ at people, and that clicked with the band.
Although Steven Tyler’s confidence could drop when he had to come up with lyrics, he was more than capable of stepping up to the task when the pressure was on. Back at the studio, with the song title to stimulate him, he clamped on a pair of headphones and let fly. ‘That was me just throwing my hands in the air and going with a retching sound. I loved that,’ he said. Ideas were coming thick and fast, and as he had lost his notepad he ended up rushing out to pen the lyrics to what became one of Aerosmith’s most famous hits on a wall by the staircase. Unashamedly, the song is saturated with sexual innuendo suggesting masturbation, three-in-a-bed sex and romps with older sirens. Said Steven of ‘Walk This Way’: ‘It’s about what I went through in high school, the relationships with girls. It reeks of teenage sex.’
The other notable number was ‘Sweet Emotion’ which, despite what the title suggests, stemmed in part from a bitterness that had taken root inside Steven. He has stated that he cannot pinpoint when he physically sat down and expressed himself so poignantly in this song, but he does not dispute that some of the lyrics were inspired by his complex feelings for Elyssa Jerret. He has candidly admitted to blaming her for being a barrier between himself and Joe Perry. Considering that Joe and his girlfriend were growing even closer, this release of Steven’s frustration and naked hurt was unlikely to be well received, and did not help the suffocating pressure under which they were all living. More money purchased a better grade of dope and now what Perry termed ‘unstepped-on cocaine’ became the drug of choice. As cocaine often induces paranoia, this was the last thing anyone needed.
In late March 1975, with recording over at Record Plant Studios, when Steven led the band out on tour around America just prior to the release of Toys in the Attic, their faith in the new material proved to be well founded. The album reached number eleven on the US chart, but more than creating Aerosmith’s commercial and artistic breakthrough, Toys in the Attic became a hard rock classic. Billboard said: ‘The band’s sound has developed into a sleek, hard-driving, hard rock powered by almost brutal blues-based riffs. Aerosmith strip heavy metal to its basic core, spitting out spare riffs that not only rock but roll. Steven’s lyrics are filled with double entendres and clever jokes and the entire band has a streetwise charisma.’ The single ‘Sweet Emotion’ was released in May and made number thirty-six.
With this welcome impetus, the band worked hard that summer, turning in electrifying performances, such as at the Schaefer Music Festival held in New York City’s Central Park. At gigs, the mercury was teetering on the verge of exploding backstage where the aggravation between Steven and Joe Perry was now noticeable to total strangers; in a different way fans out front were becoming crazed. At one Central Park gig in the 1970s, a female fan scrambled on stage and launched herself on to Steven, clawing at him in such a frenzy that he was left with a large bleeding hole in his left earlobe. New safety measures had to be implemented both to protect the band in
Although Steven Tyler’s confidence could drop when he had to come up with lyrics, he was more than capable of stepping up to the task when the pressure was on. Back at the studio, with the song title to stimulate him, he clamped on a pair of headphones and let fly. ‘That was me just throwing my hands in the air and going with a retching sound. I loved that,’ he said. Ideas were coming thick and fast, and as he had lost his notepad he ended up rushing out to pen the lyrics to what became one of Aerosmith’s most famous hits on a wall by the staircase. Unashamedly, the song is saturated with sexual innuendo suggesting masturbation, three-in-a-bed sex and romps with older sirens. Said Steven of ‘Walk This Way’: ‘It’s about what I went through in high school, the relationships with girls. It reeks of teenage sex.’
The other notable number was ‘Sweet Emotion’ which, despite what the title suggests, stemmed in part from a bitterness that had taken root inside Steven. He has stated that he cannot pinpoint when he physically sat down and expressed himself so poignantly in this song, but he does not dispute that some of the lyrics were inspired by his complex feelings for Elyssa Jerret. He has candidly admitted to blaming her for being a barrier between himself and Joe Perry. Considering that Joe and his girlfriend were growing even closer, this release of Steven’s frustration and naked hurt was unlikely to be well received, and did not help the suffocating pressure under which they were all living. More money purchased a better grade of dope and now what Perry termed ‘unstepped-on cocaine’ became the drug of choice. As cocaine often induces paranoia, this was the last thing anyone needed.
In late March 1975, with recording over at Record Plant Studios, when Steven led the band out on tour around America just prior to the release of Toys in the Attic, their faith in the new material proved to be well founded. The album reached number eleven on the US chart, but more than creating Aerosmith’s commercial and artistic breakthrough, Toys in the Attic became a hard rock classic. Billboard said: ‘The band’s sound has developed into a sleek, hard-driving, hard rock powered by almost brutal blues-based riffs. Aerosmith strip heavy metal to its basic core, spitting out spare riffs that not only rock but roll. Steven’s lyrics are filled with double entendres and clever jokes and the entire band has a streetwise charisma.’ The single ‘Sweet Emotion’ was released in May and made number thirty-six.
With this welcome impetus, the band worked hard that summer, turning in electrifying performances, such as at the Schaefer Music Festival held in New York City’s Central Park. At gigs, the mercury was teetering on the verge of exploding backstage where the aggravation between Steven and Joe Perry was now noticeable to total strangers; in a different way fans out front were becoming crazed. At one Central Park gig in the 1970s, a female fan scrambled on stage and launched herself on to Steven, clawing at him in such a frenzy that he was left with a large bleeding hole in his left earlobe. New safety measures had to be implemented both to protect the band in
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